Here’s a very interesting story out of the ongoing student violence in Montreal. An occupational hazard for journalists — mainly reporters and photographers, this oped columnist feels compelled to note — is getting caught up in chaotic, possibly dangerous events that they have been assigned to cover. For example, during the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto, and the surrounding chaos, two National Post photographers were arrested by police. The arrests, one of which was photographed by another media outlet, were soon reported — with photos — on the National Post website. But there might have been a simpler way to go about it. Tweet it!

On Tuesday night, a reporter working for the online news service Open File was arrested by Montreal police while covering a demonstration. The reporter, Justin Ling, had been covering various protests and the group he was in had been dispersed by police several times. Ling had been taking photographs, running with the crowd as it tried to evade police. Eventually, a police van approached him, two officers jumped out and Ling found himself under arrest. When the officers were unimpressed by his media credentials, Ling took his plight directly to the masses.

Under arrest, his hands restrained in flex-cuffs, Ling tried to tweet on his smartphone that he’d been arrested. It took some effort. His first tweet actually read, “I’m under attr.” But he kept plugging away, and was eventually able to type out, “Under arrest.” That set off a storm of retweets — other people using their Twitter accounts to broadcast Ling’s message to their followers — by Ling’s roughly 1,800 followers.

It paid off, and quickly. While the police officers who had arrested Ling had shown little interest in his media credentials or repeated explanations that he was a reporter doing his job, the Twitterverse’s reaction to his simple message was another matter. Montreal police, who like many major police forces have learned the value of monitoring social media during public protests, quickly picked up on the brewing Twitter response to an innocent reporter’s arrest.

As Ling recounts, he was sitting with his fellow arrestees when a police officer approached the group, asking which one as Justin Ling. Ling identified himself and was taken away. After the police verified his identity, his property was returned to him and Ling was released on the spot, assured that while the paperwork would still be processed, it was just a formality, and that he was in the clear, spared further inconvenience and a probable night behind bars.

It’s a fascinating story, about law enforcement, journalism and public protests in the Twitter age. It’s also something we’ll see more and more of. Calls for help, whether in the face of a wrongful arrest or an accident or disaster, for example, are increasingly going to come from social media. And the people in charge — police and politicians — will be largely helpless in the face of a public backlash about easily-published wrongdoings or incompetence.

So if you ever find yourself in a bind, with no one to turn to, blast it into cyberspace. You never know who will see it.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/under-arrest-tweet-it-fast/feed0stdMatt Gurney: How much advance notice do police need to not break the law?http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/matt-gurney-how-much-advance-notice-to-police-need-to-not-break-the-law
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/matt-gurney-how-much-advance-notice-to-police-need-to-not-break-the-law#commentsWed, 16 May 2012 20:04:16 +0000http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/?p=78511

Perhaps the most disturbing part in the Office of the Independent Police Review Director — reporting on police activity during the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto — comes about a halfway through the almost 300-page document.

There, the universally respected Steve Paikin, host of TVO’s The Agenda and mediator of televised federal election debates, describes being escorted away from a protest by police. He saw another journalist — whom Paikin concedes was being “chippy” with police — being held by two officers, one on each arm. A third officer punches the journalist (whom Paikin didn’t recognize) in the stomach. After the journalist doubles over, the officer elbows him in the back, driving him to the ground. The officer escorting Paikin away comments, “Yeah, that probably shouldn’t have happened.”

No kidding.

The report, by director Gerry K. McNeilly, returns again and again to the issue of police planning, and suggests in numerous places that better planning would have led to a better outcome than the questionable arrests and tactics that marred the summit. The Toronto Police, and the other police forces that supported the operation, only had four months to plan their security operation.

Related

The rushed planning is an entirely logical explanation for some of the issues experienced in Toronto. The cramped and uncomfortable prisoner detention facility, for example, is singled out by McNeilly, who found that the Toronto police simply did not properly prepare for all the complex requirements for housing a sudden influx of prisoners. It also explains why police units, responding to acts of protester violence on the first day of the summit, had such a hard time coordinating their efforts. McNeilly recounts a disturbing incident in which two police units, responding to different commanders, split up, allowing an advancing crowd to suddenly envelop one of the units. If commanders and field officers had been in closer touch, such a potentially dangerous incident could easily have been avoided.

But rushed planning does not explain the truly disturbing incidents. The beating Paikin observed was not the only case of “excessive force,” a bland euphemism for police brutality. Nor is there an excuse for police officers conducting undocumented strip searches of prisoners.

Maintaining law and order is an important and challenging task, but liberal societies check the police — the very physical incarnation of state power — with procedures and rules for good reason, and these were clear violations of those normal procedures. A lack of preparedness certainly doesn’t justify the decision of some officers to remove their nametags — something McNeilly concluded was tolerated, if not actively approved of, by senior officers.

Hurried planning can explain — not excuse, but explain — glitchy communications and murky chains of command. But police officers beating and strip-searching citizens, while hiding their own identities, is a crime. How much extra time and planning do police officers need to not break the law?

No doubt there’s a lot that can be learned from the G20 about planning. But the real lessons are deeper, and more troubling. Four months might not be a long time to prepare for a major international summit, but it’s infinitely more time than officers will have to respond to a sudden emergency or outbreak of civil disorder. Rioters don’t announce their plans far in advance, but the police need to respond in the moment. If the public is to have faith in their police, the police need to signal — loudly and clearly — that they are capable of responding to the unexpected, without becoming worse than the mob they’re being sent out to control.

That doesn’t mean being perfect. But it does mean taking responsibility for the behaviour of rogue officers who, as McNeilly takes pains to point out, represented only a few of the thousands of officers present. Unfortunately, police forces across the country are loath to ever admit wrongdoing, and it’s too likely that the Toronto police brass will seize McNeilly’s acknowledgement that most officers acted professionally and use those words to ward off further criticism.

That’s unfortunate, both for the public and for our law-enforcement personnel. Police officers may not like turning in their own. But they’ll like what happens if the public loses faith in them and demands the government crack down on all police a lot less.

OTTAWA — The federal government has decided to throw its weight behind a private member’s bill that would make it a crime to wear a disguise while taking part in a riot.

The bill, tabled by Alberta Conservative MP Blake Richards, was endorsed by the government Sunday, according to a news release from Justice Minister Rob Nicholson.

Richards’ bill would amend two sections of the Criminal Code that cover the penalties for taking part in a riot or unlawful assembly, criminalizing the use of masks. As the law stands now, Sections 65 and 66 state that participating in a riot could net offenders two years behind bars.

Related

The Tory MP said bill C-309, the Concealment of Identity Act, gives police another tool to counter ugly elements when protests turn violent.

“Often it starts out of a peaceful gathering where some individuals show up, intent on causing trouble,” Richards said.

“One of the problems that police have identified very clearly is being able to, first of all, prevent those kinds of situations from occurring . . . but also in terms of bringing people involved in the criminal activity to justice,” Richards said.

Having a separate offence to outlaw masks during a riot will protect public safety and hopefully, Richards said, prevent demonstrations from turning into full-scale riots.

When violent elements within a protest take over, Richards said it detracts from the message the peaceful protesters were trying to make.

However, NDPjustice critic Francoise Boivin said the bill may be unnecessary because wearing a disguise whilst committing a crime is already a punishable offence.

“When you have infractions that are similar how does it compute all together?” she said.

Boivin was unwilling to say whether the NDP would vote in favour of the bill without further study in committee, which is still calling witnesses.

If the bill passes, offenders caught wearing a disguise while participating in a riot would face a jail term of up to five years.

With the support of the majority government, it is likely the bill will pass. Richards said even without the official endorsement of the governing Tories, he was confident he had enough support in the House to become law.

The proposed legislation is an attempt to cut down on violence in the streets.

According to the code, an unlawful assembly is defined as a gathering of three or more people with a common purpose to cause a disturbance, or incite others to do so.

The government’s support comes in the wake of a massive “strike” by Quebec students protesting tuition increases — demonstrations that have frequently descended into violence. There have also been riots in London, Ont., following a St. Patrick’s Day party in a student neighbourhood, in Toronto during the G-20 summit and in Vancouver in the wake of the Canucks’ loss in last year’s Stanley Cup final.

Late on Wednesday night, the latest in a long series of student protests turned violent in downtown Montreal. Students in Quebec have been on strike for the past 11 weeks, angry about plans by the provincial government to gradually raise tuition in the province. As the strike has dragged on, with no end in sight, frustrations have mounted. And things have been increasingly turning destructive, with broken windows and other acts of vandalism marring otherwise peaceful protests.

On Monday, the government agreed to meet with student groups that would commit to a 48-hour “truce,” meaning refrain from disruptive or violent protests. After a protest announced by the student union CLASSE turned violent on Tuesday, the Quebec government announced the next day that it would not meet with CLASSE’s representatives, though it continued to encourage the other student unions to join them at the negotiating table. The other unions refused, the talks broke down and an angry crowd of some 5,000 protesters took to the streets on Wednesday night.

Related

After vandalism was reported, police ordered the crowd to disperse. The real violence began soon after, with windows smashed, fires set and rocks hurled at police. There were eight reported injuries, including four suffered by police officers. As of press time, 85 arrests have been made.

Violence in the streets is never acceptable in a society as fair and equitable as Canada’s. There are processes in place to allow even contentious issues to be debated peacefully, fairly and transparently. But that violence would erupt over this issue is particularly galling. The flash point for the entire student protest has been the plans of Jean Charest’s Liberal government to hike post-secondary tuition by a modest $325 a year, for five years. When the tuition increase is fully phased in, Quebec students will be paying $1,625 more than today for a full academic year. This will still leave Quebec students paying less than their peers in seven other provinces (and those latter figures are calculated using 2009 data).

In 2017, after the fee hike is enacted, Quebec students will be paying a mere 17% of the actual cost of their education. Acts of violence are being committed to protest Quebec students having to pay less five years from now than most Canadians did three years ago.

Seemingly blind to the comparatively easy ride they have thus far enjoyed, some of the student protesters — especially some who belong to CLASSE — have ludicrously begun to drape themselves in the noble rhetoric of the oppressed. Some protesters, quoted by local Quebec media, have even referred to the student strike as a “Quebec Spring.”

Oh, please. In the countries swept up in the recent Arab Spring, protesters took to the streets in the name of fundamental freedoms, not the right to somewhat cheaper tuition. And when those protesters hurled bricks at the security forces, they received bullets and mortar shells in return. That Quebec’s students feel their situations are at all comparable to the youth of the Middle East, who lacked basic rights and endured unemployment rates that in some places approached 50%, says far more about their disconnect from reality than it does about the rightness of their cause.

Of course, as is always the case, the violence is being driven by a small, radical fringe, using the anonymity of an otherwise peaceful mob to wreak havoc. Both Toronto and Vancouver have known similar tales in recent years. But responsibility for suppressing this fringe must fall on student organizers. It is not enough to simply disassociate themselves from the violent agitators. They must assist the police in identifying and arresting the criminals in their midst. Only by taking an explicit stand against violence can the student unions hope to avoid being tainted by the illegal actions committed in their name.

Until and unless that happens, we encourage the Quebec government to refuse to negotiate. Whatever grievances the protesting students may wish to express can only be fairly heard and considered in a peaceful atmosphere where law and order is respected. To negotiate now would be to negotiate under duress. If the students wish to be taken seriously, they must make serious arguments through proper channels.

And in the meantime, order must be maintained. Violence should be met by a firm police response. Those found breaking the law should be punished to the fullest extent possible. Anything less will signal that violence is an acceptable option in Canadian public life, and add further to the absurd sense of entitlement that Quebec governments have too long fostered among the province’s coddled youth.

Two minors, both 15, are among 15 people arrested after a violent St. Patrick’s Day riot rocked London, Ont., Saturday night.

As many as 1,000 people joined the drunken rampage in a student housing area near Fanshawe College that saw a brush fire lit and police pelted with beer bottles, bricks and planks of wood, forcing officers to retreat.

A CTV news van was also destroyed in the violence after rioters tipped it over and set the vehicle on fire. It later exploded.

London police revealed Wednesday they have now laid a total of 19 criminal charges against 12 of the people arrested, which include unlawful assembly, resisting arrest, obstructing police and assaulting police with a weapon.

Related

Police gained control of the riot at about 4 a.m. on Sunday morning but by then rioters had caused approximately $100,000 in damage.

The violence erupted at about 10 p.m. on Fleming Drive, a dense student neighbourhood near the college that’s become infamous for partying.

Fanshawe president Howard Rundle said Monday the area where the rioting took place has been a problem before — though not to the degree seen Saturday — but that the college would seek ways to lower the concentration of students.

“The real long-term solution is breaking up that enclave. Because then, it just can’t happen,” Rundle has said of the violence.

One of the two 15-year-olds arrested — neither of whom can be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act — is charged with one count of being a member of an unlawful assembly.

The other 15-year-old faces the same charge, as well as two counts of assaulting police with a weapon.

Six of the 15 people charged are current students at Fanshawe, police said. Fanshawe has so far temporarily suspended eight students for their involvement in the riot.

Police said they are using social media to help track down other suspects.

Brad Mior, a first-year civil engineering student, was on the other end of Fleming when he saw flames above the rooftops. It appeared to be right in front of his house.

Mior tried to fight his way down the street, but couldn’t get through the crowds. He cut through some backyards and finally made it home. It wasn’t on fire.

But rioters had peeled open his garage door. People were inside, removing his furniture.

“I saw people with my chairs, throwing them in the fire,” said Mior, 19. “I ran over, I was trying to toss people out of the garage so I could close it, so they weren’t throwing any more of our furniture into the fire.”

Besides the two 15-year-olds, police have charged the following people:

Jacob Biggelar, 19: One count of being a member of an unlawful assembly

Jordan DeRose, 18: One count of being a member of an unlawful assembly

Peter Donohoe, 19: One count of being a member of an unlawful assembly

Michael King, 19: One count of being a member of an unlawful assembly

Blaine Mills, 21: One count of being a member of an unlawful assembly, two counts of assault police with a weapon

Kory Puklicz, 19: One count of being a member of an unlawful assembly

Brian Garton, 25: One count of obstructing police

Stephania Smieja-Henry, 20: One count of obstructing police, one count of resisting arrest

Michael Moore, 20: One count of being a member of an unlawful assembly, one count of mischief under $5000

Ryan McMahon, 24: One count of being a member of an unlawful assembly, one count of mischief under $5000

The only thing that will deter more violence on Fleming Drive is a strong police response to future disorder — no more retreating before the mob — and successful prosecutions. As was the case in the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot, police are already receiving tips from the public about the identity of rioters caught on film or tape, and many of the stupider riots boasted about their participation on social media.

LONDON, Ont. — The fireballs have been extinguished and the rioters who ran amok through a student neighbourhood over the weekend, throwing bricks and setting fires, have been run off.

Now the anger is beginning to take hold.

Students joined officials at London’s Fanshawe College on Monday in vowing to bring those responsible for the weekend’s violent St. Patrick’s Day riot to justice.

Fanshawe president Howard Rundle said the area where the rioting took place has been a problem before — though not to the degree seen Saturday — but that the college would seek ways to lower the concentration of students.

“The real long-term solution is breaking up that enclave. Because then, it just can’t happen,” Rundle said of the violence, which saw an alcohol-fuelled mob of 1,000 people rain down beer bottles, bricks, two-by-fours and anything else they could throw with such violence that dozens of officers in riot gear had to retreat.

London Police say they have already received tips identifying rioters spotted on video or seen bragging about the riot on social media. Twitter and Facebook were inundated with messages about the riot Saturday night, prompting police to believe many people involved may have inadvertently incriminated themselves.

Rioters flipped over a CTV news van and then blew it up, fuelling the fireball with whatever they could find.

Rundle said students found to have taken part in the rioting could be expelled from Fanshawe, a large Ontario college with campuses in London, Simcoe, St. Thomas and Woodstock and a smaller centre in Tillsonburg.

“Someone who would throw a brick at someone else, someone who would start a fire,” Rundle said. “That kind of person is dangerous on our campus, and we don’t want them here.”

Shelby ZakoorThe riot on Fleming Drive in London on St. Patrick's Day. Fanshawe College has suspended eight students.

Shelby Zakoor, from Leamington, Ont., who is studying photography at Fanshawe, described the melee.

“People were going around and finding trees and ripping trees apart,” he said. “The girls that live on the corner, they weren’t even part of it and their entire fence got ripped right off. People were just throwing anything they could on it.”

The riot erupted Saturday night on Fleming Drive, a notorious party neighbourhood next to Fanshawe populated mostly by students.

Fanshawe has suspended eight students. Those are temporary for now, but the school is doing its own investigation.

“We may in some cases end the suspension quickly, and in other cases may turn it into a permanent suspension,” said Rundle.

Fanshawe also has set up a secure email for students to post videos and other information to help identify offenders.

“Anybody that was involved in throwing objects at people, damaging vehicles or contributing to the fire,” said Rundle. “If any of those were Fanshawe students, we want to take action against them.”

He acknowledged a Facebook page set up by students to help track down and identify riot participants, but cautioned that the investigation should be left to the professionals.

“While all of these efforts are to be commended, it is very important that those of us not trained to investigate do not do so,” Rendle said. “That information must be used by people like the police for their ongoing investigation and by trained Fanshawe staff, beginning with our campus security services.”

Related

Fleming Drive was still closed Monday as crews worked to repave an eight-metre stretch of the road destroyed by the explosions. One worker said parts of the van, including the windshield, had melted into the road.

Witnesses said the riot began around 10 p.m. after a long day of St. Patrick’s Day drinking.

Police didn’t get the upper hand until about 4 a.m. Sunday. By then, there was more than $100,000 in damage. The van was destroyed and 17 police vehicles were damaged. Officers arrested 11 people, seven of whom are Fanshawe students.

“I’m really, really, really pissed off,” said student union president Veronica Barahona. “Why would you do that and tarnish your reputation? You’re ruining it for everybody.

“People have been stupid enough to upload videos of themselves at this party, and tweeting the fact they are part of the group that flipped over this car. I mean, what goes through your head? What makes that a good idea? I’ve done some stupid things, but I’ve never done anything that stupid.”

The melee began when firefighters responded to Fleming Drive for a brush fire. They called police after running into the 1,000-strong mob. Police in riot gear responded, but were forced back by hundreds of people throwing bricks, rocks, beer bottles and wood.

“There was about 25 cop cars lined up, basically holding their ground and bottles were getting thrown,” said Nathan Field, 21, who lives about 10 metres from where the van exploded. “There was lots of bottles being thrown, lots of people being hit by bottles. My buddy got bottled.”

After police retreated, rioters flipped the news van over and torched it.

Angered by what was happening, Field went back inside. Then an explosion shook his house.

“I came back out when I heard an explosion,” said Field. “Either the gas tank went, or somebody threw a propane tank in there too. It was pretty nasty. It was basically a fireball.”

Repeated explosions sent flames shooting into the night sky as rioters grabbed or looted anything they could find to fuel the fire, including a mattress, a big screen TV and a propane tank.

Brad Mior, a first-year civil engineering student, was on the other end of Fleming when he saw flames above the rooftops. It appeared to be right in front of his house. Mior tried to fight his way down the street but couldn’t get through the crowds. He cut through some backyards and finally made it home. It wasn’t on fire. But rioters had peeled open his garage door. People were inside, removing his furniture.

“I saw people with my chairs, throwing them in the fire,” Mior, 19. “I ran over, I was trying to toss people out of the garage so I could close it, so they weren’t throwing any more of our furniture into the fire.”

On Saturday night, in London, Ont., St. Patrick’s Day revellers spilled out onto the residential street Fleming Drive and began setting fires. When emergency crews responded, the students — estimates have given counts of anywhere from 300 to 1,000 – attacked the first responders with rocks and bottles. The police and emergency crews retreated and regrouped while the mob cheered and continued to flip cars and set fires. The riot eventually petered out. Police have arrested 13 so far, including seven students from nearby Fanshawe College, many of whose students live on Fleming Drive.

Officials in London are making all the usual disgusted noises. “You will pay in one way, shape or form,” said Mayor Joe Fontana. Police Chief Brad Duncan chimed in, noting that local students “are under the illusion … that they can reject the lawful authority of police and emergency services personnel.” Except it’s not an illusion. Fleming Drive has been an effectively lawless enclave for a decade. The students realize that with more clarity than the police and Mayor do, apparently.

Related

The weekend’s riot wasn’t the first such incident on Fleming Drive. Or the second, for that matter. The Saturday riot, in fact, was at least the fourth such outbreak of civil disorder on Fleming Drive in the last five years (and that’s not counting a riot in 2001, the first such recorded incident). In 2007, at the start of the academic year, students on Fleming Drive spilled out of parties, set several fires and pelted first responders with bottles when they arrived to extinguish them. A smaller group had another bottle-fight amongst themselves and police barely a month later. In the fall of 2009, the same street was rocked by an identical disturbance — fires set, bottles thrown, police and emergency crews attacked. A city councillor warned after the 2009 incident that a full-blown riot would eventually erupt there. He was right.

In each of the instances above, arrests were light, with no public follow through. As a student housing area, there is frequent residency turnover — the rioters of 2011 were unlikely to have lived on Fleming Drive in 2009, and and almost certainly did not live there in 2007. This admittedly makes such incidents hard to deter — it would take a strong, public police response to leave a lasting memory, something that would be passed on as part of the neighbourhood’s lore, and that has been sorely lacking. Combined with the seeming police ineffectiveness following last year’s riot in Vancouver and the 2010 G20-related violence in Toronto, the ability of police to deter and defeat rioters has been brought into question. The students there know they may act with near impunity.

For that, much of the blame must fall upon civic leaders and the police. London Police claim that they were maintaining a presence on Fleming Drive last weekend, and yet they were still overwhelmed and forced to retreat. During the riot, someone threw a propane tank into a bonfire. Had that tank been full, and if it had exploded, dozens of the rioters could easily have been killed or severely burned. It was only good fortune that prevented that outcome, and had it occurred, the police would have had to explain why they were holding a perimeter while drunk students triggered a potentially deadly explosion. Clearly, being caught by surprise would not have been a reasonable excuse.

The only thing that will deter more violence on Fleming Drive is a strong police response to future disorder — no more retreating before the mob — and successful prosecutions. As was the case in the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot, police are already receiving tips from the public about the identity of rioters caught on film or tape, and many of the stupider riots boasted about their participation on social media. They are also being investigated, often after being given in by a friend or acquaintance. This evidence must be put to good use, with those involved in Saturday’s mayhem put behind bars. And in the future, London’s police must swiftly deal with spreading disorder before lives are again put in danger by the short-sighted actions of a drunken, reckless mob.

The Mayor of London, Ont., is vowing to hold rioters accountable for their crimes after St. Patrick’s Day revelry morphed into the city’s worst-ever case of civil unrest.

“Last night, London experienced the worst case of civil disobedience that our community has ever been subjected to,” said London Police Chief Brad Duncan at a Sunday news conference.

In five chaotic hours centered around a student district at Fanshawe College, violent crowds of as many as 1000 people tore apart fences, showered police and firefighters with bricks and bottles and set fire to a CTV news vehicle, which later exploded.

“Never, in my 32 years as a police officer, have I observed behaviours that escalated to the point that there was risk that individuals could seriously be hurt, or quite frankly, killed,” said Chief Duncan.

Related

Much like in the aftermath of the 2011 Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver, the London Police say they have already received tips identifying rioters spotted on video or seen bragging about the riot on social media.

Mayor Joe Fontana urged rioters to turn themselves in to police on Sunday, but warned that regardless, “You will pay in one way, shape or form.” Eleven rioters, including seven Fanshawe College students, were taken into custody Saturday night.

YouTube

The riot took place on and around Fleming Drive, a residential street packed with student housing in the northeast end of the city. Directly adjacent to the community college, the 82-house street has long been a hub for rowdy student parties and alcohol-fuelled violence.

Police had the street “under surveillance” throughout the day, Chief Duncan said.

Rumblings of the riot first began at 10 p.m., when fire trucks were called to put out a small brush fire. When the trucks arrived, their path was blocked by the crowds, who attacked firefighters with projectiles.

In response, more than a dozen police vehicles poured into the area with sirens blaring. Donning helmets, officers emerged to face a crowd of approximately 1,000, who pelted them with bricks, bottles, pieces of fencing and car tire rims. One rioter attempted to blind the officers with a high-powered green laser.

After about an hour, police made a “tactical” decision to pull out of the area and work on establishing a perimeter, said Chief Duncan. Cheers erupted as the vehicles sped away. “Welcome to London,” a male rioter screams in a video of the incident, as the retreating cars were pelted anew with bottles.

YouTube

CTV news cameraman Chuck Dickson recorded the action, and then watched as the crowd turned their attention to his own CTV news vehicle, tipping it over, setting it alight and fuelling the flames with branches, fencing and mattresses. Before midnight, the vehicle’s fuel tank exploded, illuminating surrounding homes with a massive fireball.

In both 2007 and 2009, Fleming Drive was subject to riots when student house parties spilled onto the street. In both cases, crowds as large as 500 lit fires, smashed windows and pelted London Police with projectiles.

Fleming Drive residents “are under the illusion … that they can reject the lawful authority of police and emergency services personnel,” said Chief Duncan on Sunday.

In 2007, Fanshawe College attempted to crack down on student parties with a revised code of conduct that imposed fines and suspensions on students for off-campus rowdiness. In February, 2011, the college spent $11 million purchasing a notorious Fleming Drive townhouse complex partly in an attempt to clamp down on rowdy partying. On Monday, college president Howard Rundle is holding a press conference to outline the College’s response to the riot.

“The day of thinking that Fleming Drive is a place where you can come to cause damage — those days are over,” said Mr. Fontana. “We will make sure this never happens again.”

Beer bottles, bricks and other debris rained down on police and firefighters in London, Ont., Saturday when St. Patrick’s Day celebrations turned ugly.

London police Chief Bradley Duncan, speaking to reporters Sunday, said he had never seen the level of violence and vandalism that he did Saturday night in his more than three decades on the police force.

“Last night, London experienced the worst case of civil disobedience our community has ever been subjected to,” Duncan said.

He said there was a very real risk that people could have been seriously injured, and even killed, after partygoers turned to setting fires and throwing bottles, stones and two-by-fours at police and firefighters.

Burns and other “soft tissue” injuries were instead reported, according to the chief.

YouTube

Seven people were arrested Saturday in connection with the rioting, which caused an estimated $100,000 in damage to the street and vehicles.

Duncan urged anyone else involved in the drunken mob should “do the right thing” and turn themselves into police.

The area where the rioting took place is teeming with students who attend nearby Fanshawe College.

Duncan said the street parties were expected, but spiralled out of control after police and the fire department were called about a brush fire around 10 p.m.

“London Fire Department (arrived) and were almost immediately confronted with numerous persons throwing bottles and bricks at the firefighters and fire vehicles,” Duncan said.

Police then had be brought in, with reinforcements, to escort the firefighters out of the area and they too were met with violence from the mob, the chief said.

Police then had to don their helmets to prevent injury from the flying bottles and other debris.

According to Duncan, about 1,000 people were in the crowd Sunday and police had to attend to the scene until the wee hours of the morning.

“Police vehicles were pounded with two-by-fours, bricks, tire rims and other various items,” Duncan told reporters, resulting in 17 police vehicles being damaged.

“Smoke canisters” were needed to clear out part of the crowd, just so police vehicles could retreat from the area, he added.

By 11 p.m., police declared the gathering an “unlawful assembly” and told the now-rioters to disperse — orders that had little effect, despite repeated warnings.

All of the police cars and other vehicles were removed from the area, but rioters were able to flip a CTV News van and set it on fire. A video posted to YouTube shows the truck ablaze and later exploding.

Rather than send more firefighters into the raging mob, officials determined there was no imminent danger to properties in the area and held back crews from entering.

YouTubeA CTV television news truck explodes into a fireball after being set on fire in London Saturday night. Fanshawe College president Howard Rundle said Monday six of the 11 people arrested Saturday were Fanshawe students.

London mayor Joe Fontana said the city didn’t deserve the rampant disregard for the city and the public.

“To say I am disappointed and disgusted would be an understatement,” Fontana said.

The mayor called the police and firefighters’ efforts “valiant” in the face of the violence.

“There’s no doubt that when you hear that 800, 900, 1,000 people weren’t fighting among each other,” Fontana said. “(They) essentially directed their attack on the very people who serve our community to protect property and to protect lives.

Related

Vancouver police claim that LaBoissonniere was among the mob that went wild on June 15 in downtown Vancouver following the Vancouver Canucks’ Stanley Cup loss to the Boston Bruins. She is accused of being among the group that broke into London Drugs, a western Canadian retail chain, that night.

LaBoissonniere, who could not be reached for comment, is among 25 people facing a total of 61 charges. She was charged with participating in a riot and break and enter on Wednesday.

According to LaBoissonniere’s blog, she is a young woman “aspiring to become an interior designer.”

“It’s a great way of expressing myself on stage,” she wrote. “And letting people see me exude my confidence by being myself.”

Vancouver police say they are confident as many 700 rioters will end up being charged.

Postmedia News

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/one-of-the-people-charged-in-stanley-cup-riots-won-miss-congeniality-at-a-vancouver-pageant/feed2stdAccording to her blog, which has been removed from Google's Blogger service, Sophie LaBoissonniere "brought home The Miss Congeniality Title and Royalty award" at the Miss Coastal Vancouver pageant.Photos of the Day, Oct. 19, 2011http://news.nationalpost.com/photos/photos-of-the-day-oct-19-2011
http://news.nationalpost.com/photos/photos-of-the-day-oct-19-2011#commentsWed, 19 Oct 2011 14:45:15 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=101240

Today’s best photos from around the world selected by the Photo Editors of the National Post

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesPolice in riot gear advance across a field as evictions begin at Dale Farm travellers camp on October 19, 2011 near Basildon, England. Travellers have fought for 10 years to stay on the former scrap yard site. The local authorities have been given the go-ahead to proceed with the eviction of illegal dwellings after rulings by the Court of Appeal.

Oli Scarff/Getty ImagesFlames engulf a caravan during evictions from Dale Farm travellers camp on October 19, 2011 near Basildon, England. Travellers have fought for 10 years to stay on the former scrap yard site. The local authorities have been given the go-ahead to proceed with the eviction of illegal dwellings after rulings by the Court of Appeal.

REUTERS/Jamal SaidiA tourist poses for a picture with the Sphinx at the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo October 19, 2011. Tourist numbers have plummeted, dealing a blow to the millions of Egyptians whose livelihoods depend on the 14 million or more visitors who once came to Egypt annually, providing one in eight jobs in a country beset by high unemployment.

REUTERS/Pepe MarinFaculty of medicine first year students run while seniors spray them with different types of sauces, liquids and flour as part of an annual tradition during a celebration in honour of their patron Saint Lucas at Granada University in Granada, southern Spain October 19, 2011.

REUTERS/Eddie KeoghChelsea's Nicolas Anelka (R) challenges KRC Genk's Kevin De Bruyne during their Champions League group E soccer match at Stamford Bridge in London October 19, 2011.

REUTERS/Yannis BehrakisA masked youth throws a petrol bomb at police during riots after a peaceful march on the first day of a 48-hour strike by workers' unions in Athens October 19, 2011.

REUTERS/John KolesidisA youth throws a petrol bomb at police during riots with police in Athens' Syntagma (Constitution) square October 19, 2011. Greek unions begin a 48-hour general strike on Wednesday, the biggest protest in years, as parliament prepares to vote on sweeping new austerity measures designed to stave off a default that could trigger a crisis in the wider euro zone.

ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP/Getty ImagesProtesters throw petrol bombs to riot police as they demonstrate in front of the Greek parliament in Athens on October 19, 2011 as a two-day general strike began against a new austerity bill demanded by Greece's international creditors to avert bankruptcy. Over 52,000 people converged on central Syntagma Square, where parliament is located, in separate protests organised by unions but also joined by unaffiliated Greeks fed up with austerity cuts.

REUTERS/StringerAn employee hoses a CRH (China Railway High-speed) Harmony bullet train at the high-speed train maintenance base in Wuhan, Hubei province October 19, 2011. Rail construction in China is facing funding shortages due to credit curbs and uncertain policy after a fatal train crash in July, the official China Daily reported on Wednesday.

REUTERS/Ahmad MasoodA labourer carries a sack of coal to be loaded onto a truck at a coal dump site outside Kabul October 19, 2011. Each labourer earns $10 on an average working day. Most of them come from the northern provinces, leaving their families behind in search of fortune in the capital.

MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/Getty ImagesYemeni anti-government protesters raise their hands during the funeral of 12 people killed in recent clashes with loyalist security forces in Sanaa on October 19, 2011. Despite mounting pressure, embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh has for months refused to step down.

VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty ImagesA soldier of a Belarussian special unit exits a smoke area on October 19, 2011 during an examination for a maroon beret, the symbol of courage and professionalism for domestic troops, at a training camp outside Minsk.

FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty ImagesNepalese Guinness World Record holder Khagendra Thapa Magar, 19, the second world's smallest man with 67 cm (26 inches), drinks some tea in a French cafe in Paris on October 19, 2011.

HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty ImagesA young couple poses in front of an old public fountain dating back to the French colonial time for images for their wedding album in downtown Hanoi on October 19, 2011. Today in Vietnam young couples are used to carefully preparing their wedding album before the wedding day ceremony, often chosing nice locations in big cities or popular tourist sites for the official photos.

LOBSANG WANGYAL/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Dalai Lama prays during a day-long fast and prayer service in honour of Tibetans who set themselves on fire to protest the Chinese rule in Tibet, at Tsuglagkhang Temple in McLeod Ganj on October 19, 2011. Prime Minister-in-exile of the Central Tibetan Administration, Lobsang Sangay (unseen), led the prayer service. Nine Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March, including seven since late last month, according to exiled Tibetans and rights groups.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/photos/photos-of-the-day-oct-19-2011/feed3galleryEviction Of Travellers Begins At Dale FarmEviction Of Travellers Begins At Dale FarmEviction Of Travellers Begins At Dale FarmA tourist poses for a picture with the Sphinx at the Pyramids of Giza in CairoFaculty of medicine first year students run while seniors spray them with different types of sauces, liquids and flour as part of an annual tradition during a celebration in honour of their patron Saint Lucas at Granada University in GranadaChelsea's Nicolas Anelka challenges KRC Genk's Kevin De Bruyne during their Champions League group E soccer match at Stamford Bridge in LondonMasked youth throws petrol bomb at police in AthensA masked youth throws a petrol bomb at police during riots with police in Athens' Syntagma squarejeffisgr8t-1160914An employee hoses a CRH Harmony bullet train at the high-speed train maintenance base in WuhanA labourer carries a sack of coal to be loaded onto a truck at a coal dump site outside Kabuljeffisgr8t-8103515jeffisgr8t-7103515-jeffisgr8t-5103515jeffisgr8t-4103514Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu: Trust us — riot justice can’t be rushedhttp://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/jim-chu-justice-shouldnt-be-rushed-following-the-vancouver-riot
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/jim-chu-justice-shouldnt-be-rushed-following-the-vancouver-riot#commentsMon, 03 Oct 2011 12:00:09 +0000http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/?p=52783

By Jim Chu

The urge to rush to justice is basic and visceral and it is easy to see why many people want speedy arrests for the Vancouver rioters. Despite these external pressures, the Vancouver Police Department-led Integrated Riot Investigation Team will not cut corners and rush cases to court in order to appease those who want fast “justice.”

Many have expressed frustration with the Canadian justice system especially in light of the swift prosecution of the British rioters. But Canadian police and Crown attorneys operate under our laws, not foreign laws. The Integrated Riot Investigation Team (IRIT) and our prosecutors have set out to do the best possible under the current Canadian laws and court precedents. We work within the system as it stands.

The main hurdle we have been dealing with during our investigation is the unprecedented quantity of multi-format video evidence. We received more than 1,600 hours of such video. It would take years to process using conventional methods. We have taken this huge volume of digital evidence to a special lab at the University of Indianapolis, the world’s leader in processing digital evidence. Video experts from around the world will create a single-format video stream. We will be able to catalogue each riot participant and locate each case of vandalism and looting that the person committed. And then we’ll present that evidence to the court.

Rushing ahead with charges would actually be a benefit to the accused. Our legal concept of “double-jeopardy” rules out trying the same suspect on the same evidence more than once. We are confident that the video evidence we are waiting for will be highly persuasive in court, and result in many convictions. Pressing ahead with charges and court proceedings before this evidence arrived is counter-productive.

Patience may also yield stiffer sentences. If we charge a person with taking part in a riot based on evidence that they looted a drug store, the sentence upon conviction would reflect a single incident of looting. If through the course of our continuing investigation we determine that the same person also looted Sears, helped torch a police car and smashed windows storefront windows, we can’t go forward after the initial conviction and ask to have a second charge of taking part in a riot laid against the offender. Waiting until we have knowledge of all the crimes committed by the accused during the riot will result in a sentence that truly reflects the actions of the offender and brings justice to the greatest number of victims.

The Vancouver Police Department understands the frustration felt by citizens. But we are confident that our decision to wait until the video lab in Indianapolis was available is the correct one. The lab is considered the best in the world and is in high demand. We would have liked to have gotten in sooner, but that was beyond our control. We are committed to doing it right the first time, mindful of the many victims that would not get justice if we failed to identify all of the rioters that burned their cars or looted their shops.

Abuse of process and disclosure are other legal traps we have to avoid. If the police and the Crown were to attempt to prosecute the same offender at different times on different charges for that person’s involvement in the riot, or for other criminal misconduct related to the riot, the legal principle of “abuse of process” could potentially be argued by the accused’s defence counsel. It is very possible that our case against the accused would never proceed. This also would be inefficient, ineffective and expensive.

The police must provide “full disclosure” and also demonstrate reasonableness and fairness in preparing charges. A Supreme Court of Canada decision (the Stinchcombe case) requires the police to provide Crown counsel with all relevant evidence and material — for and against the accused — that it has in its possession so the Crown can make a fully informed decision whether to lay charges. The Crown must also disclose the full extent of the prosecution’s case to the accused and his/her counsel as soon as the charge is laid. This includes all documents or other material that may be useful for the defence, and would include video or photo images. Failure to properly disclose such evidence can result in unnecessary delays in trials and potentially the judge imposing remedies for the accused, including throwing out the case. We are waiting on the key piece of evidence — and thus cannot yet provide it to the Crown or the accused. Pushing ahead now would not be legally sound.

The public should know that we are still today discovering more evidence against those accused in participating in the riots. This is still very much an active investigation. Only when we feel we have enough evidence to convict a suspect for the most serious crimes they committed will we forward that evidence to the Crown. Rushing to charge these people with lesser offences would start the disclosure process before the evidence has been analyzed. Further, if the individual pleads guilty based upon incomplete evidence, and thus incomplete disclosure, there is no opportunity to add new evidence to the charge already before the court. The case would be effectively over, and any subsequent evidence that we discovered after the guilty plea wouldn’t matter to the length of sentence the subject received.

There is no statute of limitations rule that applies to an active police investigation where an indictable offence (like rioting) is involved. However, when a charge is formally laid, the police and prosecution must proceed in a timely manner. If an unreasonable delay occurs (for example, because of an inability to meet the full disclosure rules), the accused and his/her lawyer could argue that the delay has been unreasonable. A Supreme Court decision (the Askov case) sets out whether an accused’s right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms “to be tried within a reasonable time” has been infringed. In this decision, the Supreme Court agreed with a lower court decision to stay (drop) a charge because of the unreasonable delay. Since then, literally thousands of cases have been stayed because of findings of an unreasonable delay.

We will not make the mistake of “starting the clock” on any suspect’s court proceedings until we are fully confident that we have amassed all the necessary evidence to convict that suspect for a serious crime warranting the strongest possible sentence.

We understand the frustration of Canadians at the pace of the investigation. But we can only assure them that we know what we are doing, and are moving as quickly as possible to build the strongest case against those who participated in the riot as possible. We do not want anyone to escape justice because we acted with haste. Our critics can stir all the conflict and controversy they want. But we will do the right thing for the people of Vancouver. We will act responsibly.

National Post

Jim Chu is Chief of the Vancouver Police Department.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/jim-chu-justice-shouldnt-be-rushed-following-the-vancouver-riot/feed0stdRiot Breaks Out After Game In VancouverNational Post editorial board: Left coast rioters get off easyhttp://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/national-post-editorial-board-left-coast-rioters-get-off-easy
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/national-post-editorial-board-left-coast-rioters-get-off-easy#commentsWed, 31 Aug 2011 20:09:16 +0000http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/?p=49288

On Tuesday, Vancouver police investigators announced the creation of a website to help them identify participants in June’s Stanley Cup-loss riots. At a press conference, the city’s Police Chief Jim Chu insisted his department was not “pulling punches” in bringing rioters to justice. Perhaps it’s not. Perhaps the Vancouver Police Department’s (VPD) go-slow approach to bringing charges against vandals and looters will, in the end, lead to the maximum number of convictions. But that is hard to believe.

It has been more than two months since thousands of angry Canucks fans marked their team’s Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup finals with hours of window-smashing, car-burning, merchandise-grabbing rage throughout the city core. Yet to date, not a single charge has been laid, even though police claim to know the names of more than 1,100 people involved. Not even one of the 42 participants who have turned themselves in has been charged.

That certainly looks like punch-pulling to many Vancouverites.

Even when announcing their new tipster website, the VPD explained it would be posting photos of only 40 of the 200 unidentified rioters it is investigating. Spokesmen assured reporters the 40 whose faces were captured by security cameras had been chosen entirely at random, so no one need worry they were being singled out for special scrutiny.

Why such mincing concern? And in any event, why not just put up all 200 mug shots, and thereby be done with hand-wringing about who is and isn’t being scrutinized? If police are truly engaged in a “full and thorough investigation,” as Chief Chu contends, why the delay?

Please, spare us the self-effacing, politically correct apologia and just get on with charging the smug, anarchistic brats and thugs who perpetrated these crimes.

The parallel between Vancouver police and their British counterparts has been drawn by other media commentators, but it bears repeating here.

In early August, riots on a much larger scale took place across Britain. Already, more than 3,100 arrests have been made. One-third of those arrested have already had at least one court appearance. For several days following the riots, courts remained open 24 hours a day to process detainees. Courts even held sessions on Sunday for the first time in British history to deal with the volume of accused. A team of 450 detectives remain on the case and scores of rioters have already been sentenced to jail terms of up to four years, including a pair who police believe touched off the worst of the disturbance by using social media and cellphones to encourage new and expanded disturbances.

The glacial pace in British Columbia may not be entirely the fault of police. Crown prosecutors in B.C. have been known to grasp any reason to reduce the severity of charges or to drop them altogether. That may partly explain why investigators are being so frustratingly painstaking — they don’t want to give prosecutors any excuse to ignore the crimes.

Nor are Vancouver police getting the co-operation of the courts in the way that British police did.

Still, the excruciating sluggishness of the VPD cannot be laid entirely (or even mostly) at others’ feet. Just as they were slow to respond to the widespread looting and destruction on the night of June 15, they have been similarly slow to deal with the legal aftermath. As the 19th-century British prime minister William Gladstone said, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” In Vancouver, the inaction of police threatens to deny justice to the city, and especially to the residents and business owners whose property and livelihoods were smashed.

They should have been terrified in Madrid. Over a million teenagers and young adults were gathering in the capital of a country in a severe debt crisis, and facing a staggering youth unemployment rate of 40% for its third straight year. After the riots in London last month, surely civil unrest, violence and urban terror were on their way.

Yet the 1.4 million young people who gathered with Pope Benedict XVI over the weekend were Catholic pilgrims and, just as they did when Toronto hosted World Youth Day in 2002, they conquered the heart of Madrid not with fear, but with joy — singing and praying in the metro, on the buses, cheerfully thronging the streets.

World Youth Day, held over the past 25 years in places as different as Buenos Aires, Czestochowa, Denver, Manila, Paris, Rome, Toronto, Cologne, Sydney and now Madrid, is by far the largest gathering of young people anywhere — bigger than the Olympics, bigger than any music festival, bigger than any riot. It doesn’t get much attention from a secular media thoroughly discombobulated by joyful religious pilgrimages. Which is a shame, for the image of 1.4 million young pilgrims gathered around the pope in Madrid should be juxtaposed with the few thousand rioters and looters in London.

The Prince of Wales customarily appears in this column only after his periodic blunders, so it is fair to note when he says something reasonable. Upon visiting the London neighbourhoods devastated by the riots, he commented on the gangs that did so much of the damage.

“I still think half the problem is that people join gangs because it is a cry for help, the fact they’re looking for a framework, a sense of belonging, and a meaning,” the Prince said. “What’s been so lacking is that sort of opportunity to allow people to be motivated and encouraged, and frankly exhausted, because that’s what you really want at that age.”

Leave aside the tired “cry for help” business and there are still other causes of the riots, but the Prince is right that “half” the problem is lack of a framework, belonging, meaning. Gangs can be attractive because they provide the simulacrum of an identity, a sense of dignity and purpose. What went on in Madrid is not the simulacrum, but the genuine article.

This is the principal “problem” of youth, but also its great adventure. It is the time to answer the fundamental human questions. Who am I? Where do I fit? What useful work can I do? How should I live? To what great cause should I devote my life? The task of the old — parents, teachers, preachers, coaches — is to point to where those answers might be found.

Those of us who work full-time with young adults know that even the highly privileged Canadian university student is at something of a loss in answering these questions. The Internet gives you plenty of data, but little wisdom. The seductive world of social media provides hundreds of friends, but little actual friendship. The modern university, devoted to endlessly celebrating the sheer magnificence of each individual student, is rather silent about who she really is, and what she ought to do. Talented young people have an almost infinite array of options, but a mission in life is hard to find. Consequently, without a strong identity and mission, so many young people feel very much alone.

London and Madrid were dramatically drawn alternatives to the problem of being alone. On one hand there were young people who embraced a framework in which destructive violence united them in a demonstration of power. On the other were those who embraced a framework that demands something arduous of them in service to others.

The pilgrims in Madrid were given a special catechism, to which Pope Benedict wrote an introduction.

“I invite you: study this catechism,” he wrote. “This catechism was not written to please you. It will not make life easy for you, because it demands of you a new life.”

Youth culture offers a great deal aimed precisely at pleasing, even indulging, the young. But what the young need is a more sturdy framework than one assembled from their own appetites and immature ideas. There is plenty of bad news from Europe this summer; the good news is that its oldest framework, the Christian gospel lived fully, is still on offer, and has not lost its power to attract the young.

No-fault, inexplicable, equal-opportunity rioting, demonstration and miscellaneous commotion seem to have become the norm in many advanced Western nations. In the recent riots in the U.K., the ostensible cause was the unintended death of a police suspect during his arrest. Once the disturbances began, however, they were joined by the idle, destructive detritus of Britain — black, brown, and white all happily co-existing and twittering one another about the movements of the police, who were tardily under-deployed, with pusillanimous rules of engagement.

This enabled rioters not only to break into stores, but to try out clothes and shoes to make sure they were the right sizes before they stole them. On one main street of a working-class suburb of London, the only one of scores of commercial sites on both sides of the street that was not looted was a Waterstone’s book store. The intruders, apparently, had no interest in books.

The only public disturbances that motivated police actually find difficult to stop are those of desperate people who will continually risk death in their hatred of the regime, like the brave Syrians who have been killed by the hundred every week, and still fight on. They cannot be far from victory.

Insofar as Western precedents go, there was at least a heartfelt grievance behind much of the disorder in Belfast this year. And the same is true of many of the racial disturbances that have plagued great American cities for decades. On the other hand, there was far less excuse for the anti-globalization rioters who demolished the McDonald’s restaurant in Davos, Switzerland, every year during the World Economic Forum, smashed up Starbucks and other places in Seattle during the 1999 WTO Ministerial conference, and, most recently, staged (relatively minor) disruptions at the G20 meeting in Toronto. There is a veneer of plausibility to complaints about free trade and international banking, but most of it is just a pretext for yobs and riffraff, like Old World football hooligans, to vandalize for the fun of it.

The recent British mobs and the so-called hockey rioters in Vancouver are just morally impoverished malcontents taking an opportunity to exploit the altruism and indulgence of decent societies. The same is true of the rioters in Paris and Athens — who are objecting to rather modest efforts by the governments in those places to take a minimal first step toward the avoidance of bankruptcy, a fate that would inflict a good deal more and deeper hardship than the claimed cause of the disturbances.

The chief recent Canadian entry in this era of pointless demonstrativeness, though it is entirely at the silly end of the spectrum, was Canada’s own Johnny Marbles, the anarchist who tried to throw a pie in Rupert Murdoch’s face at the meeting of a British Parliamentary inquiry earlier this summer. Antagonism to Murdoch is understandable, but this was not a sane response. (The star of the occasion, as many others have commented, was Murdoch’s nimble young wife Wendy, who intercepted the pie in mid-flight like an anti-missile missile and directed it back on to Mr. Marbles.)

Of course, society has always been burdened by louts and unreasonable malcontents, but they have proliferated because of the Western habit of providing a guaranteed income to everyone through the welfare system. This, to many, incentivizes idleness, which, in the case of ignorant people, often leads to violence, as a reaction to unbroken indolence.

The problem was severely aggravated in all Western countries by the erosion of families and the schools. And in the United States, the Great Society welfare programs of president Lyndon Johnson inadvertently rewarded welfare addiction and single motherhood. The rate of illegitimacy among African-American children has risen from 23% in 1965 to 72% today; and among American whites from 7% to 29% (though, certainly, a minority of both groups are unmarried couples who do provide a stable environment for their children). The numbers are less dismal in Canada and even in Britain, countries that have not had to grapple with the aftermath of domestic slavery; but the trend is the same throughout the West.

Even more perplexing is the so-called “Tentifada” in Israel. Hundreds of thousands of people have camped out in public places to protest what are claimed to be the advantages conferred on communities of Orthodox Jews and settlers, and the renunciation of the country’s socialist traditions.

Despite still being technically at war with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Syrians (distracted as they now are with the infirmities of their own regime), Israel is steadily putting up high economic growth rates, and has a higher standard of living than several EU countries. This is a remarkable success by a country born in the aftermath of unspeakable genocidist massacres in Europe, founded with the utmost difficulty in a desert, and in the teeth of the armed hostility of scores of millions of Arab neighbours.

Yet now we have the ludicrous spectacle of the Israeli urban lower-middle classes noisily prosecuting an incongruous mélange of complaints, from the political and economic over-indulgence of the aforementioned special-interest communities (not unfounded grievances) to a sentimental idealization of the time when most Israelis lived communally in kibbutzes, driving ploughs with rifles slung over their backs.

These are not violent demonstrations. But Israelis can vote, and that would be a better way to express complaints than through the destabilization of their democracy in this manner.

This trend toward rioting and mob political movements will lead to cavernous problems if is not arrested. We can take inspiration from Japan, where almost none of any of this occurs.

To strengthen societies and eliminate the anything-goes sense of entitlement that has led to the current political climate of violence and street theatre, Western nations should incentivize stable families through taxes and benefits (whether the parents are actually married or not); require reasonable standards of performance from school teachers even if it means decertifying their unions; put the able-bodied chronic unemployed to work in conservation and infrastructure projects at below the minimum wage (with income supplements if necessary); and devise a uniform, staged series of police responses to disorders that include the incapacitation of social networks used to co-ordinate violence. Police should not be shy to escalate to rubber bullets and fire-hoses, and then to rubber truncheons and tear gas, and in extreme cases (of which there would be very few) gunfire directed at provable chief offenders.

Ultimately, these oafs and their ringleaders will endanger our entire civilization — but only if we allow them to do so.

Chris Jackson/Getty ImagesA volunteer cleans up after a riot in London.

I realized that the collapse of British society into a Hobbesian nightmare of mutual predation and despair was still some distance off when I caught two little straws in the wind. The first was a well-framed photograph of a badly scorched bit of London, taken on the morning after a night of riots and vandalism. Apart from heavily accoutered cops, the only human figures on the scene consisted of a forest of sleeveless forearms, all brandishing the long handles of mops and heavy-duty scrubbing brushes. The ordinary working day had scarcely begun, but the process of digging out and cleaning up, inaugurated by the volunteer locals, was already under way. Of course, I thought to myself. Inflict a physical disaster on any British city, but especially on London, and the inhabitants seem to know, without any previous training for the role, that they have been cast in a remake of Britain Beats the Blitz.

The second exhibit you may already have seen. If not, then make haste to YouTube and watch the video of Pauline Pearce. Pearce is a resident, of West Indian descent, of the London borough of Hackney. She is a woman suffering from a physical disability and on an early night of the disorders, she had found herself confronted and menaced on the street by crowds of young hooligans and help-yourself artists. By the time the next day rolled around, the whole area knew of the terrific on-site harangue she had delivered and of the vials of shame that she had upended over the heads of the offenders. She was being stopped in the street and invited to revisit the high points again. For undiluted outrage and brilliant street humour, the result is hard to beat. Interviewed the next day, Pearce took a strong line on property rights, demanding to know why, if people worked and saved to buy a car, anyone should have the nerve to come along and set fire to it. She then pointed across the street and asked how the thugs knew there weren’t babies asleep next to the windows that were suddenly red with arson.

It was quite something and, again, there is nothing the British like more than the sight of a tough motherly figure giving the layabouts a piece of her mind. So perhaps the resources of civilization are not yet exhausted. Still, this leaves open the question of why so many British people also enjoy battering and maiming strangers, destroying or damaging landmark buildings (probably without knowing that that’s what they are), and pretending to come to the aid of wounded foreign tourists, the better to lift things from their backpacks.

There are two unhelpful approaches to this, the first of them based on the assumption — still very widespread in the American press — that there is something essentially un-English about gratuitous violence. A second approach makes the opposite emphasis and consists of saying, in effect, look up your Dickens and your Mayhew and your Engels: The London of a few generations ago was a scene of mob rule as well as class rule. Life was cheap, justice was expensive; nobody was more cruel to children than the English; and no peaceful citizen was safe from the footpad, the highwayman and the pickpocket.

This “nothing new under the sun” theory is too callous and doesn’t really succeed in explaining anything. But nor, necessarily, does the alternative theory that blames all the “new” violence on the “old” vices, of selfishness, greed, the decline of family values and religion, and so forth.

Last year, I had a debate with my brother Peter at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. (His contributions to the current argument, which are among the most cogent being offered by anyone on the British right, can be found on his blog at London’s Mail on Sunday.) Curtain-raising these questions, Peter led off with some recent crime statistics and accounts of criminal incidents that were quite hair-raising. He basically challenged me to say whether I would have believed such stories, or ever expected them to come true, in the more innocent England of our boyhood.

Without resorting too glibly to the Dickens/Mayhew/Engels defence cited above, I found that I could. Vicious crime was constantly spoken of in undertones — and the names of “bad” neighbourhoods in quite respectable towns were likewise whispered about — by people who quite genuinely feared the underclass and in particular its violent children. In more famously “bad” cities, like Glasgow and Liverpool and Belfast, one heard credible reports of whole streets and areas and housing estates where it wasn’t worth chancing a visit. (These same districts of urban blight, as I hastened to remind the audience for our debate, tended also to be the setting of very dogged traditional, religious and family values, often expressed by Protestant-Catholic warfare of a sort that was later to mount a real challenge to the British state.)

Then there were the successive panics about feral youth. In the mid-’60s, street and beach-front clashes between Mods and Rockers petrified the respectable and set magistrates competing with each other in the stiffness of their sentences for fans of The Who. Pure panic in the early 1970s effectively banned Stanley Kubrick’s version of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange. More recent was Britain’s most disgusting export as well as a poisonous recreation: the mobilization of huge squads of ugly drunks at soccer matches. More recently, though, the introduction of mass CCTV has allowed an amazing degree of crowd control even at this level.

So how much fresh bad news is there really under the sun? Friends of mine tend to stress the laws that are never enforced, the grinning bullies who walk free, the waste of police time on politically correct trivia and the general “defining down” of unacceptable behaviour. But the only really new development, without historical analog, is the emergence of gangs and even small-scale “communities” that feel they owe no civic or political or in many cases religious loyalty to the state or its institutions. These groups and areas often detest each other as much as they do the wider society. There has been graphic violence, for example, between Afro-Caribbean and Asian Muslim factions. Clearly, also, these are the sort of rank, polluted waters in which white supremacist and jihadist groups can find their fishing grounds. I remind you that all of this was already an extremely clear and present danger, long before the all-purpose expression “the cuts” was being used for all-purpose purposes.

It’s somewhat perverse that the Vancouver riots are suddenly back in the news — not because of the two-month anniversary, which was Monday, but because a bunch of different people rioted in England. In the immediate aftermath of the post-Stanley Cup mayhem, it was widely assumed numerous young lives — some promising, some not-so-promising — had been irrevocably stained. There was 17-year-old Nathan Kotylak, police car arsonist and champion of water polo; there was UBC student Camille Cacnio, giggling thief and champion of bad apologies (“I have been dehumanized,” she complained); and the legendary, perhaps semi-mythical Brock Anton, who bragged of his criminal exploits on Facebook to such an insane degree that one doubted it could even be real.

We haven’t heard about them in weeks, for a couple of reasons: One, because as obnoxious as it was to hear it from people like Ms. Cacnio, the demands for ruined lives and brutal justice were themselves symptoms of a mob mentality — and mob mentalities, thank goodness, quickly die down. And two, because no one in Vancouver has yet been charged. The news this week is the swift — practically instantaneous — justice being meted out to alleged rioters in England, where some courtrooms have been running all night. Numerous yobs have already been sentenced, and not lightly, either. On Tuesday, two first-time offenders in their early 20s were sentenced to four years each for inciting riots on Facebook.

The anger this is provoking in Canada is a much healthier kind. It’s not about riots per se, which, though perplexing, are relatively quickly forgotten. What we’re talking about here is the pace of Canadian justice, which is disgraceful. In 1995-96, about 9% of cases took more than a year to complete. In 2009-10 it was more than 16%. Over that time, the proportion of Criminal Code traffic offences that take more than a year to wind up has gone from 9% to an astonishing 23% — and there were 7% fewer cases overall. Over a 15-year period ending in 2007, the average number of days necessary to complete a case in Ontario rose 78% and the average number of court appearances 114%.

Occasionally we become viscerally aware of this, such as when a Quebec judge tossed out charges laid in 2009 against 31 alleged biker gangsters on grounds it could take many more years to wade through the trials. But often as not we breeze past it without noticing. This week in Toronto, a man was convicted of impaired driving causing bodily harm after running into a cyclist … three years ago. Brian Dickson, who’s accused of murdering York University student Qian Liu in April, made a brief court appearance this week. His preliminary hearing is scheduled four-and-a-half months hence. You don’t have to compare it to anywhere else to know it’s insane.

There are some plausible structural explanations for a velocity gap between Canada and the motherland — notably a more complicated process by which police recommend charges to Crown prosecutors. But none comes close to justifying two months without a single charge being laid. To listen to police and prosecutorial spokespeople, you’d think it was somehow more difficult to convict someone based on smoking-gun video evidence than it would be without that evidence. Surely, at least, the people who turned themselves in deserve to have their cases move quickly forward.

In a weekend speech to the Canadian Bar Association, Governor-General David Johnston called on lawyers to examine their role in the petrification of Canadian justice. “He who delays or withholds justice excites discontent and sedition,” he said, quoting Joseph Howe’s 1835 defence against charges of seditious libel. This is a valuable sentiment. But it’s politicians such as B.C. Premier Christy Clark who bear the ultimate responsibility here — not least because she promised swift justice for the rioters in Vancouver, knowing full well it wouldn’t be delivered. That invites anger, and the invitation should be accepted.

Incidences of sedition — hockey-related or not — are blessedly rare in Canada, and are likely to remain so. But discontent with the justice system is running alarmingly high, and justifiably so. Vancouver’s looters, window-smashers and car-flippers should have been caught, tried, sentenced and (in most cases) released by now. Instead, the process stretches before us like an endless, empty highway.

LONDON — A 16-year-old youth was remanded in custody by a court Tuesday charged with murdering a pensioner during the London riots, one of five people killed during England’s worst unrest for decades.

The teenager is charged over the death of Richard Bowes, 68, who was punched to the ground on August 8 in the west London suburb of Ealing, where several buildings were looted and cars torched.

He cannot be named due to British legal restrictions.

The youth’s 31-year-old mother appeared alongside him in the dock before Croydon magistrates in south London charged with perverting the course of justice and was also denied bail.

The teenager, who stood in court wearing a black t-shirt with his arms crossed, was also charged with violent disorder and four counts of burglary related to looting during the riots.

District Judge Robert Hunter adjourned the youth’s case to be heard by London’s Central Criminal Court, or Old Bailey, on Thursday.

Pictures of Mr. Bowes lying in the street after the alleged attack shocked Britain. He spent several days on life support but died late Thursday.

Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday unveiled plans for a major policy review to reverse the “slow-motion moral collapse” that he blames for four nights of looting, arson and violence in London and other major cities.

Three people appeared in court Monday over the murder of three men who were hit by a car while defending their neighbourhood against looters in Birmingham, Britain’s second city, early last Wednesday.

Another three people have been arrested and bailed on suspicion of murder following the fatal shooting of a father-of-four in Croydon on August 8 after he rowed with a group of men involved in looting.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/teen-charged-in-london-riot-death-of-retiree/feed1stdFloral tributes and messages are placed at the spot where a pensioner was attacked during rioting last week and later died of his injuries, in Haven Green, Ealing on August 16, 2011 in London, EnglandMichael Weiss: Making political hay out of a burning cityhttp://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/michael-weiss-making-political-hay-out-of-a-burning-city
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/michael-weiss-making-political-hay-out-of-a-burning-city#commentsSat, 13 Aug 2011 12:25:24 +0000http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/?p=47583

By Michael Weiss

London — Since moving to London more than a year ago, I’ve seen a woman toss a cat into a “wheelie bin” for no particular reason; a group called the Socialist Workers Party march on the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 84% publicly owned; and a man hurl a shaving-cream pie at a fallen news mogul in the seat of government.

Most Americans will have gawped in horrified wonder at the scene of masked and hooded rioters throughout London overturning cars, burning down hundred-year-old furniture stores and looting shops as calmly as if they were regular shoppers — actually trying on the clothes they were about to steal. But it’s when you read that a posh restaurant in Notting Hill was stormed by burgling hoodies who were only frightened off by a kitchen staff armed with rolling pins that you begin to realize that quintessential Englishness means never having to account for deranged displays of utter meaninglessness. From this point of view, the collective comic sensibility of Monty Python, P.G. Wodehouse, and Mr. Bean isn’t absurdist; it’s empirical.

“Tottenham, you can understand, and everyone in Brixton likes a riot,” said a colleague of mine this morning, as she explained how her commute home to Balham last night was diverted. “But Clapham?” Here’s a neighbourhood in South London known for its Aussie and Irish expats, hectic twentysomething bar scene and quiet Sunday brunch spots. Picture Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens given over to mob rule. Another friend made the mistake of returning to an “Alan Moore dystopia” from the Edinburgh Festival:

I’m on this windswept, cold train platform with a broken-down rickety train approaching to take me back into central London. The train driver warns us over the Tannoy that we should take great care when exiting the train, as there has been “civil unrest” across London and some areas may not be safe. On the train, we stop at Croydon East for 10 minutes — and I can literally smell the burning.

The ostensible cause of the riots was last Thursday’s shooting of Tottenham resident Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four, in circumstances that the London Metropolitan Police can’t seem to explain. An investigation is pending. But if this is the Amadou Diallo (an immigrant gunned down by New York City police in 1999) moment for Britain, then why are minorities and the working class the principal victims of “socially excluded” aggression?

In North London, Kurdish and Turkish shopkeepers formed “local protection units” to patrol the streets and prevent the violence and looting that plainly overwhelmed the authorities. (And how embarrassing that these riots coincided with the visit of some 200 senior Olympic officials, no doubt rethinking the wisdom of hosting next year’s Summer Games here.) “We do not have any trust in the local police,” said a “unit” leader in Green Lanes. “Our shops are next on the target list by the thugs who have ransacked Tottenham. We will protect our property.” This black woman from Hackney is appalled by the criminality: “You lot piss me the f–k off. I’m ashamed to be a Hackney person. ’Cause we’re not all gathering together and fighting for a cause — we’re running down Foot Locker and thievin’ shoes. Dirty t’ieves, you know!”

Former London mayor Ken Livingstone has made political hay out of the lawlessness. First he called for water cannons to be deployed against the masked Molotov cocktail-throwers, then he blamed their unrest on the Tory government’s austerity policies. “If you’re making massive cuts,” Livingstone told the BBC Monday night, “there’s always the potential for this sort of revolt.” Livingstone’s pompous summoning of Tahrir Square was politely contradicted by Shaun Bailey, a black Conservative community organizer, who said that this was not the time to score political points and that the whole affair was just about plundering merchandise. A much-watched video shows a young Asian man being helped up off the ground in a seeming act of kindness — only to be robbed by his helpers.

“I went out to Croydon last night to get my grandmother,” an Afghan-British student told me on Facebook this morning. “It’s about 3 miles from where I live. I saw a bunch of buildings on fire. The police were on the main road [and] then they all went away, and another crowd emerged. Loads of people with bags (probably filled with stuff they stole) were gathered around.” Another eyewitness in North London “heard two girls arguing about which store to steal from next. ‘Let’s go Boots?’ ‘No, Body Shop.’ ‘Hit Body Shop after it’s dead [meaning empty].’”

Socially excluded these rioters may be, but that hardly justifies a BlackBerry-coordinated assault on commercial and residential property. Take it from Egyptian protester Mosa’ab Elshamy: “Egyptians and Tunisians took revenge for Khaled Said and Bouazizi by peacefully toppling their murdering regimes, not stealing DVD players.”

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/michael-weiss-making-political-hay-out-of-a-burning-city/feed0stdRiots And Looting Continues Across LondonRobert Fulford: Britain is a land without shamehttp://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/robert-fulford-britain-is-a-land-without-shame
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/robert-fulford-britain-is-a-land-without-shame#commentsSat, 13 Aug 2011 11:08:38 +0000http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/?p=47575

Cathal McNaughton/ReutersWhat’s in a name?
That was what Nazem Kadri was asking after the Toronto Maple Leafs so-called third line contributed three of the team’s four goals in a 4-2 win against the Ottawa Senators in the pre-season opener on Monday.
Tyler Bozak scored scored twice, while Colby Armstrong had the other goal.
“Label or not, it’s how you play on the ice,” said Kadri, who failed to land on the scoresheet, but was a plus-1. “I think our top-three lines, you could put them in first, second or third spot. They’re all dangerous. It really doesn’t matter to me. Obviously the lines aren’t really set yet, but we definitely have the players to make an impact.”
<!--more-->
Kadri, Bozak and Armstrong started playing together during informal practices this summer. No one on the coaching staff told them to come together. According to Kadri, “it kind of just happened,” as though they were meant to be.
“We figured it could potentially be a line combination and we kind of started practising with each other,” he said. “Since then, we kind of just stuck it out and played the whole summer together. I really think it helped.”
Based on last season, the Leafs could use all the offensive help they can get.
Sure, Phil Kessel and Nikolai Kulemin both hit the 30-goal mark, while Mikhail Grabovski finished the year with 29 goals. But the Leafs, whose offence was tied for 21st in the league with 2.6 goals per game, lacked depth. No one playing amongst the bottom-six managed 10 goals.
That may not be a problem this season. If Armstrong remains healthy, head coach Ron Wilson said there is no reason why the winger, who scored 22 goals in 2008-09, cannot contribute 15 goals. Bozak and Kadri, meanwhile, are two up-and-coming players with untapped potential.
“Their touch and their playmaking ability, we’ve got some firepower there,” Armstrong said of his linemates. “So we’ve got some depth there.”
“It’s nice to know that we have three lines that can be dangerous offensively.”
As it stands, Toronto top two lines (Kessel-Tim Connolly-Joffrey Lupul and Grabovski-Kulemin-Clarke MacArthur) are expected to receive most of the minutes and power play time. But if the third line can provide secondary scoring — and remain intact — Armstrong sees game-changing potential.
“We talked about it through camp,” said Armstrong. “Try not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but if we stick together until the end of the season, I like to look at ourselves as a line that can win games for us, whether it be defensively or you’d like to have a third line that can produce too.”
<em>• Email: <a href="mailto:%20mtraikos@nationalpost.com">mtraikos@nationalpost.com</a> | Twitter: <a class="twitter-follow-button" href="http://twitter.com/Michael_Traikos">Michael_Traikos</a></em&gt;

The many thousands of rioters, looters and arsonists who stormed through British cities this week are the spiritual descendants of Oliver Twist, the orphan boy of the 1830s imagined by the young Charles Dickens. They are deprived, as he was, but in a different way, a way they cannot begin to understand.

Famously, Oliver was deprived of food. The people who humiliated England this week are provided with food but they are deprived of just about everything else that matters — above all a sense of shame, that absolute necessity for a civilized life.

Their behaviour this week was shameless. Shame is the force that keeps many of us from doing whatever outrageous thing that occurs to us at the moment. We know that it will make us feel wretched and make others think badly of us.

But the criminals who violated the peace of English cities will not think badly of themselves because they will never regret what they have done — and they will not be concerned by what others think of them. They believe they have a right to riot because they feel they have the right to do what they wish.

No matter what you have read, the riots were not political, nor were they racial or economic. They had nothing to do with government cutbacks (which haven’t taken effect yet anyway).

The background to the riots lies in a darker and more complicated realm, the landscape of emotions, in which personality is structured and individuals learn (or do not learn) that a livable life requires, among much else, a sense of responsibility and certain vital inhibitions.

Most people acquire an appropriate aversion to feeling ashamed through family, community, religion, school, work and friendships. But if all or nearly all of these shaping forces are absent, or weak, the individual is deprived. That’s roughly how the English rioters developed.

Teaching self-control is a delicate matter, involving much experiment. There are many ways to learn it, but it’s generally agreed that no one can learn it alone.

If children enter adolescence without this inner equipment, the government can’t help them much. When welfare reaches the point where it makes working unnecessary, as it does sometimes, it creates a class of unhappy cheque-cashers, resentful of their position and ready to break the law or otherwise embarrass authority, for the pleasure of expressing their rage.

There is no shame, of course, in being unemployed. On this point, society is thoughtfully non-judgmental. It is never one’s own fault. It’s the government’s fault, or the fault of rich people.

In Britain, hundreds of thousands of young people don’t know the satisfaction of doing good work. Welfare (the world is learning, rather late) is always too much or too little.

Nor can the police and the courts help. They are mainly interested in protecting the rights of the young until the young obviously break the law. Then they receive the most gentle punishment.

Prime Minister David Cameron spoke to the rioters in harsh but not quite credible words: “We will track you down, we will find you, we will charge you, we will punish you. You will pay for what you have done.”

If this happens, it will be first time in many years that a promise of that kind has been kept. My guess is that few law-abiding citizens expect to see the criminals appropriately punished. After decades of gentle policing and gentle judging it seems likely that when the crisis recedes into the past, the guilty will once again be treated with understanding and the victims will be forgotten.

The media are no help. Popular music sentimentalizes addicts as tragic heroines. Television makes thugs into likeable gents. Most of the media, including the tabloid newspapers, teach their audiences that authority deserves nothing but derision and only fools take a schoolteacher seriously.

The working people (that is, people who actually make a living by working) suffer most when a sizeable part of the population turns criminal. The workers lose the freedom of their streets, which become dangerous after dark. They even lose control of their homes; British judges now consider that home burglary is an offence of little meaning, not much worse than illegal parking.

On the third day of the riots, I heard a justly furious woman on the BBC speak of the rioters as “feral” packs of criminals. Horrible word, “feral,” meaning wild, brutal and savage. Horrible and, in this melancholy week, horribly accurate.